Renji Likes Big Boobs
by Ace's Shadow Girl
Summary: ... which Rukia is devastated to discover. Funny moments, but romantic stuff overall. Enjoy!


**Disclaimer:** I do not own Bleach. I just love the characters. Especially Renji, of whom I've recently acquired a keychain. Yay!

* * *

ღஐƸ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒஐღ **Renji Likes Big Boobs **ღஐƸ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒஐღ**  
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Rukia sighed as she stretched her arms up above her head, hearing the joints cracking. She had been working at those papers for more than eight hours now and hadn't allowed herself a break at all. When she looked at the clock hanging on the wall, she had been shocked to see that it was already past four p.m., the time she'd agreed upon with Renji to meet to do some training.

She smiled as she stood up and pushed the papers into two neat piles – processed and not processed – and made her way to the exit of the Thirteenth Division's barracks. She greeted several of the squad's soldiers – her subordinates now, she still couldn't get used to it.

Making her way to the training grounds, she was still smiling and there was just no way she could suppress it. Thinking of Renji kinda made her feel like that, like her heart was opening up and dancing in her chest. Yes, she knew the signs, and no, she wasn't the type for any self-delusions. She had long since acknowledged that she had fallen in love with her best friend, maybe even ages ago, when they'd both been children. He'd been her everything back then, and she knew that feeling had been mutual. And as things were, she hoped that his feelings had changed just as little as hers had.

She was hoping for something specific. For a relationship with him.

She knew her brother was who he was, but she also knew that she didn't have to bow to his every will. If she told him how important this was to her, he'd maybe understand. And Renji was his fukutaichō, anyway, so the chances were good that he could be convinced.

Jeez, she was acting as if they were short before marrying! She almost blushed at the thought, imagining the both of them as a wedded couple.

_Yeah, stop it right there, stupid_, she told herself and shook her head hard to get rid of her embarrassing thoughts. They weren't even together, and she was thinking of marrying him!

But she knew that if she one day married somebody, it would be him. Nobody else. He was her soulmate, her partner in crime – literally! – and her best friend. There had never been anybody else, and lately everything was going so well between them. She was looking forward to meeting up with him and training with him. Since they'd started those almost daily training sessions, she'd improved considerably, and was grateful he'd took the time for her. In that enamoured-schoolgirl way of thinking she'd adopted as of late, she thought that it could mean more than just friendship; that it meant exactly what she wanted it to mean.

Approaching the training grounds, she could barely repress her excitement at the thought of seeing him. He should be there already; she probably should apologise for being late. Her heart was beating so fast it was annoying. It had been like this for so long already, every time she saw him her heart started dancing a jig, and she'd thought that'd go away with time. But if anything, it had only become stronger …

It actually skipped a beat when she heard men's laughter from behind the wooden fence just before her, and she recognised Renji's enjoyable (_sexy_) voice among the others. At least he'd had company while waiting for her, she thought.

What made her stop in her tracks, she didn't know. Later, she wouldn't know if it'd been a good or a bad thing.

"Yeah, who'd have expected that?" Renji chuckled, and Rukia bit her lip as she thought of how she loved his voice. "She _always_ wins the polls."

_Polls? What are they talking about? _Rukia thought, confused. She didn't mean to eavesdrop, but somehow she couldn't continue her way. Her feet seemed frozen to the ground.

"Come on, seriously," she heard Iba say. "When it comes to the category 'Hottest Female Shinigami', who'd not think of Rangiku first?" More laughter.

_Oh_, Rukia thought, and her mouth was suddenly dry. _That thing._

She knew the Shinigami Men's Association conducted their idiotic and needless polls on a biannual basis, asking who the coolest male shinigami was, or the sexiest female one in Soul Society. Things like that. And although it was obvious, getting it rubbed in the face that Rangiku was the undefeated winner kinda made her conscious of her evident shortcomings in the female area.

"God, she's so hot, I wouldn't mind at all if she just let me touch her just once …" Shūhei sighed.

"Those boobs of hers make me crazy. Who can even look her in the face? Besides Hitsugaya, that is," Iba snorted, and the three of them laughed again.

"Yeah, who can? And who's _not_ dreaming of burying his face in her chest and just …" Rukia knew the gesture that most likely followed the words. But she also knew the voice that had just spoken the words, and it made her go ice-cold on the spot.

"If her neckline gets any lower, I don't think I can ever again wear a straight face around her …" Renji continued and sighed. "I just have a weakness for those boobs …"

Enough was enough. Rukia threw herself around without thinking, and started running back. She ran and ran until she reached Kuchiki Manor, ignoring all the people who crossed her way, and when she reached her room, she turned the key, locking herself in, and threw herself onto her bed, face buried in the pillows. Her head felt empty, and so did her chest. When she felt her body tremble, she noticed that she was sobbing.

She sat up, angrily wiping at the tears that streamed down her face.

_Rangiku. Why, just why Rangiku? You idiot, Renji! You stupid idiot!_

His words were in her head, driving her mad. _"I just have a weakness for those boobs …"_

Rukia pressed her hands on her ears and yelled out her anger and pain, as if it would help her any. His voice, his voice that was so dear and beloved to her, the voice that whispered things to her in her dreams that made her breathless … just now, she hated it. Hated him.

Just when she'd thought everything was going awesome, he just had to do something like this! If that was where his interests lay, then … then … what about her? Was she just his good friend? Was everything she'd noticed so far, his glances, his gestures, his conduct towards her and the way his face seemed to light up when he saw her, just the lovesick interpretation of a hopeless fool?

She knew the answer to that, and it hurt.

* * *

_Earlier, at the training grounds …_

"Weakness for boobs? Look who's talking," Shūhei snorted, and Renji frowned. What had he said that those guys found so funny now?

"What? Honestly, which guy doesn't? It's natural," Renji defended himself, still not knowing why in the first place.

And he didn't know why Iba and Shūhei broke out into loud laughter. "Seriously, guys! What's wrong with you?!"

Iba straightened, still snickering. "Sorry, lad. But you know, we're both in the committee that counts the votes, and …" He couldn't speak on, for his body was once again rocked by a laughing fit.

"And don't tell me you don't know where that one vote for Kuchiki came from!" Shūhei finished Iba's sentence, and they both patted each other's shoulders in laughter.

Renji clenched his fists in annoyance, but couldn't prevent his face from becoming red as a tomato. "Damn you! It's a secret poll, you shitheads!"

"So it _was_ you!" Shūhei pressed out in-between laughs. "Seriously Renji, don't act as if you're actually interested in Rangiku-san when the only one you care about is Kuchiki!"

And Iba jumped right on the bandwagon. "Who else should it be? Weakness for boobs! Renji, your only weakness is Kuchiki, and everybody knows that!" Iba practically roared with laughter, and Renji was so short before smashing both of their heads together. Instead he turned around, embarrassed to no end, with the colour of his face matching that of his hair, hearing their laughter until he had left the training grounds.

_Those bastards!_ he seethed inwardly. _Shit, if they're going to make that public, I'm so dead!_ He thought about the other guys in the Association who'd laugh at him, he thought about Kuchiki-taichō who'd most likely chew him up so badly he'd never be able to walk again for using his sister as jerk-off material … because fuck him, that was exactly what he did! And most of all, he thought about Rukia, who'd frown at him and tell him that he was way on the wrong track and an idiot and …

Jeez, he was in such deep shit if those two jerks spread the word around that he was into her! She'd evade him like the plague if she knew, he'd never be able to talk to her again, she'd never train with him again!

Speaking of training, wasn't she supposed to show up right about now? Renji spared a glance at his watch, the one he'd bought in Karakura Town, and saw that it was already half four. He frowned. Where was she?

A cold shiver ran down his spine, had she maybe already heard of it and wouldn't know anything of him anymore? Shit!

… or maybe she had just forgotten, or was working late. With Ukitake-taichō sick at the moment, she was practically buried in paperwork …

Or she had heard of it and wouldn't ever talk to him again! Shit!

Renji could have slapped himself square in the face for his actions. He shouldn't have participated in that poll in the first place, but Ōmaeda had practically jumped in his face with it and hadn't let up until he'd made his tick and thrown his slip of paper into the ballot box.

_Damn you, Ōmaeda!_

But as good as it felt to badmouth the Second Division's fukutaichō (he'd always done something to deserve it, after all), this time it was he himself who was to blame. Ōmaeda hadn't ticked the box following Rukia's name, and he hadn't put it into the box for him. It was Renji alone who had messed it up.

… _but damn that stupid Ōmaeda for his freakin' stupidity!_

It always helped a little.

Renji soon realised that he was going in circles, and quite literally, too. He had ended up at the far end of the Seireitei. "Shit," he muttered to himself, and decided that it was probably for the best if he just went to the Thirteenth Division's building to go and ask her about it. Maybe she really was just busy, one never knew. But … if she was really angry with him, what should he do? Quite understandably, Renji wasn't so keen on having his heart ripped out of his chest to watch it die as she turned her back on him.

_Jeez, don't be a wimp_, he mentally kicked himself in the ass. But he couldn't drive away the queasy feeling in his guts, and by the time he had reached his destination, his heart was beating furiously.

Standing in front of the door, he swallowed forcefully before pushing it open and entering. Her office was down the corridor and to the right, with a nice view on the cherry trees out in the garden. His eyes started to sparkle when he imagined the both of them in that garden in springtime, watching the sakura in full bloom and their petals slowly falling down on them, settling on her beautiful black hair …

Crap, that reminded him of his boss and his shitty attack.

Just when he started contemplating whether to knock or just walk in when he reached her door, he was relieved of that decision when he found it open. Surprised, he stepped into the doorframe and found her with her back to him, rummaging around on her desk and stacking papers into a cardboard box.

"Um, Rukia?" Renji asked, and watched as her back went ramrod straight.

She half-turned her head slowly towards him. "_What._"

That word came out so … icy. So … unlike her. So … angry.

_Crap. _

"You … didn't show up, something happened?" he nevertheless made an attempt on getting her into a normal conversation. Fearing her answer more than a bunch of Arrancar.

She fully turned her head towards him, and he saw her eyes alight with something that was definitely rage. "I was busy." He could practically hear the 'asshole' at the end of her sentence. Her beautiful face looked so incredibly cold, it made his heart clench tightly.

"You … ah, umm … I see," he mumbled. _Crap, she knows. Crap, she knows._ In a desperate attempt to get her to say something, anything, he asked, "Are you going somewhere?" and pointed to the box filled to the brim with papers.

"Yes." She had turned around again, trying to squeeze some more papers into the box, then grabbed a few pens from the desk and stuck them in somewhere. He was amazed at how stony she could sound, as if she was … really angry. He realised he had never seen her really, really angry in his life. And his goal had been never to find out, but he had just messed it all up. He was such a big, big idiot of a shinigami.

"Where?" he asked timidly, fiddling with his fingers and finally tucking them into the folds of his shihakusho.

She had stopped in her movements, then turned around fully to face him. Her face was so dark with rage and anger that he flinched. "Not that it concerns you, but just for your information, I'm visiting someone who's _not_ thinking about boobs all the time."

_Wait, what?_

"What?!"

She huffed. "You heard me. I'm going to Karakura Town. At least Ichigo's not rubbing people's deficiencies right into their face. And he's not talking or thinking about boobs all the time. And I don't know why I'm even telling you, blockhead." She grabbed the box on her desk and ranted on, "Really, you men are such assholes! Why the hell are you so fascinated with stupid boobs? They're not even doing anything! And you're such an idiot, and I hate you!"

Renji's mouth, which had dropped open the moment she'd started her railing, snapped shut again. "You … heard that?" he said quite ruefully, because it was the only thing that was on his mind right now. He was so dumbfounded that his head felt completely empty all of a sudden.

He saw her eyes narrow, and knew it was the wrong thing. "Yes, I heard, Renji! And you can't even imagine … I'm … Ah, screw that! I'm so angry I could …" He knew she would have thrown her hands up if she hadn't held on to the box. "Anyway. Have fun with Rangiku's boobs. Bye."

With that she pushed past him, brushing his arm with hers as she went, and stomped down the corridor.

Renji was floored by her little speech, so much that he didn't stop her or call after her. He watched with wide eyes as his love interest disappeared through the doors of the Thirteenth Division's barracks. When they slammed shut behind her, he exhaled slowly.

_Shit. Annnd I messed it up again. _

Though not in the way he'd thought at first. Now he couldn't decide what would've been better, her knowing he'd voted for her on a whim or her overhearing that stupid conversation? And if she'd heard, which she obviously had, why hadn't she said anything about the vote? It was really strange. Had she just left after hearing that damned part about Rangiku? Because that was apparently what bothered her the most. And what was that about people's deficiencies? He didn't get it at all. Shit, he should've stopped her to hear the whole of it. Should he run after her? But she was so angry, and maybe she didn't even care? But she'd seemed as if she cared, because else she wouldn't have blown up like an H-bomb in the first place. Yeah, he should go after her and …

He stopped after having taken two steps in the right direction. Yeah, what? Tell her that he did like big boobs, but he liked hers too? _Congratulations, buddy, on inventing such a nice compliment. She'll be delighted to hear you like her boobs. Reeeaaally._

He didn't want to lie, and he was a boobs guy, after all. And he also hadn't lied when he'd said that if Rangiku's neckline got any lower he'd never be able to look her in the face again. Because, seriously? Who could? He doubted that any other guy than Hitsugaya … and on second thought, maybe Komamura-taichō as well … could ever lift his eyes as far as her face. Hell, he doubted any _woman_ would be able to!

Okay, maybe he'd exaggerated with the weakness. Because, as much as he was angry with them at the moment, Shūhei and Iba had been right. His only ever weakness was, and would be, Rukia.

And maybe he'd exaggerated with the other things he'd said, too. What had it been again? He hadn't even paid attention, it was just like saying something that was expected of you. Something with his face in Rangiku's bosom?

_Oh, crap. I've so messed it up. _

* * *

Meanwhile, Rukia was on her way to the Sixth Division's barracks, where she knew her brother was still working. And if that blockheaded fool came running after her, she'd hit him, she'd decided. But he didn't, and she fought back the feeling of sadness at it. She came to a halt in front of her brother's office, and knocked. He called her in – of course he knew who it was from her reiatsu – and raised an eyebrow at the box in her hands. "This would not be for me, I hope?"

Rukia smiled a little. This was as close to an attempt at humour as Kuchiki Byakuya would ever go. "No, nii-sama. Unfortunately, these are my own. I am merely here to inform you that I will be in the World of the Living for a few days."

Her brother's eyebrow rose higher. "Did Ukitake-taichō order you thusly?"

Rukia shook her head, and her black strands danced around her face. "No. I asked him if I could take my work with me to finish it over there."

Byakuya's eyes narrowed, and Rukia started to sweat. As much as she loved her brother, he had that effect on people, even her. "Is there any specific reason you need to go to the World of the Living to finish your work?"

She reluctantly shook her head again. "I am merely missing Ichigo and Orihime, and as long as nothing happens over here, I figured I could just as well help out the local guardian shinigami. I am contactable through Urahara-san, as usual."

Byakuya subjected her to a sharp scrutiny that made her sweat even more. "You're angry. Did something happen?"

Rukia almost gasped. She didn't know how he always did that, but … well, this time, maybe he'd read it on her face. And there was no denying it. But as much as she hated him right now, she wouldn't make Renji's life a living hell by telling her brother he'd made her angry. Maybe he'd just shrug and tell her she'd have to sort that out for herself, but there was the tiny possibility that he'd start persecuting Renji, and she didn't want that. This was between him and her. Even though there would never be a 'him and her', now.

She furiously tried to frown to stop any possible tears from squeezing through. She then took a deep breath. "Yes, I'm angry. I need a little time to get over it, and I fear that won't be possible here." She looked up at her brother again, who had stapled his fingers together to rest his chin upon them.

"I understand. I will see you in a few days, then. Take care."

She nodded, feeling relieved. "You too, nii-chan. See you."

Her step was a little lighter when she was on her way to the Senkaimon. A few days to get over it, that was all. That would do.

To forget a life-long infatuation with the person who meant the world to you.

* * *

Renji sighed, leaning his head back. It fell against the cold, hard stone wall of the training grounds building he was sitting against. He was feeling quite devastated with the way things were. Rukia had carried out her threat and gone to Ichigo's, and it made him crazy not to know how she was and what she was thinking.

Maybe he deserved it? He knew that he had messed things up between them, and he didn't know how to make them whole again, but he also didn't know what he'd done wrong. Participating in the poll had been plain stupid, he knew that, but as long as Shūhei and Iba kept their traps shut about it, there shouldn't be a problem. Maybe … yeah, maybe she'd even be … happy? … if he told her about it? He didn't know. Oh, what did _he_ know about women! And especially about her. She could usually read him like a book, he suspected her to get some training by her brother. But he just didn't know what went on in that pretty little head of hers.

If he told her he found her sexy and that _she_ deserved the title in his eyes, would she be happy? But even then, it wouldn't solve the rest of his problems. He was a boobs guy, and he couldn't do anything about it. And it certainly didn't help his case that every time he thought about _hers_, he needed a cold shower. If he told her he'd lied to seem more, whatever, manly, towards the guys, would it make her happy? But then again, he hadn't completely lied, merely exaggerated, and he didn't want to lie to her. Even if it made her happy.

He threw his head against the wall again, once, twice. It just didn't help him at all, he didn't even know what the main point was for her! And what the heck had she meant with that 'people's deficiencies' crap? He just couldn't figure it out on his own, and it had been three days already.

Damn, he needed to talk to her!

With a sudden determination, he rose to his feet and directed his steps towards the Sixth Division's barracks and his boss' office. When he stood in front of his taichō, however, he had to fight himself not to hurry away with his tail between his legs. He didn't seem quite so cheerful today, but then again, Kuchiki Byakuya never was.

"What is it you want?" he asked, one finger marking the place on the paper where he had stopped reading. Renji could hear the hint of annoyance in his voice, and gulped.

"I wanted to ask if I can get a day off," he asked. "Tomorrow, to be exact."

Byakuya started frowning, and Renji sweatdropped. "And why would that be?"

"I, uh, wanted to go to the World of the Living to see Ichigo and Inoue-san and the others …"

"And my sister, I suppose?"

Renji almost jumped. Well, that had been foreseeable, hadn't it? "Y-yes."

Byakuya exhaled, long and slowly. He then pushed his papers away and leant back, cracking his shoulders. Renji chewed the inside of his cheek to keep himself from doing something stupid out of his damn impatience.

"Look, Renji. I don't know the reason for your disunity, but you cannot take days off as you please because of personal problems."

Renji frowned. "Well, _she_ could! I only want to talk to her!"

Byakuya shrugged, and even that gesture looked so freaking _royal_ coming from him. "She took her work with her. And she sorted it out with her taichō. I am yours, Renji, and I tell you not to."

"And if I take my work with me? What should I do? This one?" He got ready to grab the largest pile of papers.

"No, Renji. You will be sent out into the Rukongai tomorrow. There will be nothing you can take with you. You will have to wait until she comes back." His eyes told Renji that this was the end of their conversation. But then there was more. "I am not doing this because I want to punish you for making her sad. You have a duty, Renji, you know that."

Renji nodded, but his mind had picked up on something different. "Sad?" he asked, confused.

Byakuya nodded once. "She was sad when she came here. She seemed hurt."

_Hurt?!_

"Whatever it is between the two of you, please try to resolve it as soon as she returns. Disputes are bad for morale." _And for my sister_, his eyes seemed to add. "You can go now."

Renji left the office and closed the door behind him, feeling no wiser than before. _Hurt?_ However had he hurt her? How could something he said … have … hurt …

_Shit, I'm such a dick!_ he scolded himself as something clicked into place in his head. _Deficiencies! Stupid, stupid, stupid!_

Now he had the right words to say, but nobody to say them to.

* * *

Rukia yawned as she stepped into Ichigo's room. "Hi, Orihime."

"Rukia-san!" Orihime beamed at her. Ichigo, however, didn't beam at all. He was sitting on the bed next to the orange-haired girl, hands in his lap, and his face was somehow red.

"You're back already?" he asked, and Rukia threw him a frown. He knew she was asking herself why he always had to be so grumpy, but really, wasn't that girl able to use her eyes, for once? She was quite obviously disturbing him … them … Damn her!

"Yes. That guy didn't have anything to do today, and I don't really like him. I'm finished with the paperwork, too."

"Brilliant," Ichigo muttered, but a spark of hope was sprouting. "So you're going back?"

She just hmph-ed. "No, I don't think so. Maybe the day after tomorrow."

Ichigo sighed, and Orihime gave him a worried glance from the side. "Rukia, I don't know what the hell is wrong with you and Renji, but don't you think it's better to talk it out already?" _And stop interrupting me and my girlfriend with … important things!_

She looked at him furiously. "There's nothing to talk out, I told you!"

"Yeah, right," he muttered, and in that moment he made a decision. "I'm gonna take a walk. You gonna stay with her?" he asked Orihime, who nodded but looked confused. He inconspicuously touched her shoulder and walked out of his room, determined to get that little fuming nuisance out of his sphere of personal privacy.

* * *

Renji was stepping from one foot onto the other. He was standing in front of the Senkaimon, anxiously waiting for news. They'd called him out when he just wanted to go to bed for the day, tired of all that had happened. He hadn't had a decent sleep at all since that day, too, and he needed to be fit for tomorrow. All he knew was that there were news for him from Karakura Town, and he wondered if they had something to do with her. Hell, he _hoped_ they had something to do with her! He wanted to see her so badly, and tell her all the things he'd figured out in the meantime. He wanted to touch her, to hug her until there was no more air left in her lungs …

His thoughts were interrupted by the gate activating, and he tensed. Did it have something to do with her? But if so, why did they call _him_ of all people? If it was an emergency, why was nobody else here? Like someone from the Fourth Division, for example? Or maybe, ah well, _her brother?_

He got his answer as soon as someone appeared, or rather, half-raced-half-stumbled out of the Senkaimon, and his heart jumped in his chest.

Then she ran straight into him.

He caught her when she gave a little surprised yelp, then stared at him out of wide eyes as if he was wearing an ape mask or something similarly odd.

"Rukia?" he asked hesitatingly, and let go of her upper arms. "What's wrong? Did something happen?" But at least he knew that if something had happened, it hadn't happened to her. She was okay, thank … whomever.

"Renji?!" Rukia breathed, and he could hear a lot of incredulity in her voice. "You … you're … okay?" That was just before her arms firmly clamped around his waist, and she buried her face in the folds of his shihakusho.

Which left Renji gaping down like an idiot. He was completely and utterly baffled at her strange behaviour – there she was, after eight days of no contact at all and a weird emergency call in the middle of the night, running like seven wild Hollows were after her, asking him if he was okay and then hugging him like there was no tomorrow? What the heck?

However, that didn't mean that he didn't like it. In fact, he liked it immensely, and his hands went up all by themselves, one settling on her back and the other on her hair, stroking it softly. "Hey," he said rather hoarsely, enjoying the feeling of her arms around him, but still – she was being kinda weird.

She lifted her face, and he gulped at seeing her expression. She looked shocked and relieved at the same time, worried and … angry?

"Was that … was that your idea?" she asked, her voice raw, while she let go of him as suddenly as she had started the embrace. Her brows knit together in a frown, she glared up at him.

"My … my what? What's going on now? I don't get it!" he exclaimed and held his hands out, palms turned upwards in his best whatever-it-is-it-wasn't-me gesture.

She glared for one more moment before she finally sighed and folded her arms in front of her chest. No matter the situation, he always loved it when she did that. It accentuated the small rise of her breasts under the heavy cloth, pushing them upwards and –

_Damn, focus you idiot!_ he chid himself and almost clenched his fists at his sides.

"Damn that Ichigo. I can't believe he did this! He misused our communications system just to get me to come here! That fool! I'm gonna punch him so hard next time I meet him! That big, stupid fool of all fools! And –"

"Could you maybe tell me what's going on? I got an emergency call telling me to wait here. What happened?" Renji interrupted her ranting, even if the more she went on with her tirade, the more it convinced him that nothing was wrong. At least, not in the way he had feared.

Rukia's mouth was left open at his words. "He _emergency-called_ you?! That incredible dumbass!"

"What did he do?" he asked, almost expecting steam to come out of her ears by the way she was just fuming herself into a rage. And more than glad that it wasn't him who was the target of all that.

"He –" She broke off and stared at him, then looked down again. He waited patiently, and every second that passed told him that everything was okay and that there was no actual emergency. And as much as he didn't get any of it, he was so incredibly relieved that his whole body seemed to feel light all of a sudden.

"He told me you were injured," Rukia finally muttered, and Renji's eyes widened significantly.

"He – what?!"

"Yeah, I can't believe it too, how can he abuse the emergency system, that big oaf, did nobody tell him …"

She just went on, while all he understood was _blah, blah, blah_. And those sweet words in his head: _He told me you were injured. _

She had rushed back to Soul Society because she'd thought he'd been injured. She'd come back for _him_, because she cared for him, because she'd been worried for him, and he'd be happy for the rest of his life …

"You've come back because you were worried about me?" he interrupted her softly, his eyes searching for hers in the barely-lit darkness. His hand came up and touched her cheek, and she started, her eyes wide as she glanced back up at him.

"Hmph. He told me you were wounded and barely alive, who'd not come?" she said, but her eyes betrayed the harsh tone in which she spoke. She took her hand up, and for a moment it looked like she wanted to take his away from where it still lay on her cheek, but as soon as her fingers had closed around his wrist, she seemed to have forgotten.

"Doesn't change the fact that you were worried. For me." Renji smiled and felt so happy he could burst any moment.

"Fool, I wasn't … and anyway, Ichigo … and besides … and … and you go back to your giant breasts, you moron!" she finished her incoherent speech on a huff and wanted to turn away, but he didn't let her. No, not now. Not now that he finally had her here, with him, and she'd been worried about him … It showed him that she still cared for him, no matter what had gone down the drain between the two of them.

He grabbed her by the shoulders and turned her back towards him, ignoring her loud protests. The voice inside his head was shouting at him now, and he wouldn't back away, not now. Because he loved her, dammit!

He saw the look of utter shock when he bent down and took her mouth in a soft but no less passionate kiss. He didn't care now, he just wanted her, and if she'd give him hell afterwards then so be it. He was many things, but he was no coward, and he wanted her to know all of it.

Taking his hands up to hold her face in place, his head became dizzy at the softness of her lips and the sweetness of her mouth. He'd always dreamt of kissing her – and more than that, too – but he'd have never thought that his dreams would, one day, come true. But here they were, and his heart was beating just for the moment and just for her, and he breathed in her scent and felt her face against his and it felt close to perfect.

That was, until she had overcome her initial shock and her arms sneaked around his neck and she started kissing him back. His eyes fluttered open for a second and he could see that she had closed hers, and he smiled against her mouth and drove his hand through her soft hair.

God, he wanted to do so much more.

When her mouth opened slightly, he slid his tongue inside, finding hers and caressing it in slow, languid strokes. Was he still on earth? Because it felt like he was in heaven. She let out a small moan into his mouth and he felt like going crazy. Without thinking it through, one hand of his reached down and grabbed her butt, lifting her up, while the other steadied her back. He simply ignored her little muffled squeak as he continued kissing her, pressing her against him, and she was still kissing him back, and what had he done to deserve this, and that feeling of her body rubbing up against him, and her legs that had locked behind his thighs as he still held her up, and this delicious sensation as she pressed up against his –

Uhh, maybe he should stop it here.

_What the hell's gotten into me?_ he cursed when he finally broke the kiss and put her down again, while his whole body ached for more. But he knew it all too well; she was staring dazedly at him with flushed cheeks and her lips were ever so slightly parted and wet and red from their kiss.

_That_ had gotten into him.

"But …" she whispered. "What about … what you said?"

"Seems like you didn't hear the rest of that conversation, did you?" he asked, surprised at how rough his own voice could sound.

She blinked up at him. "Um, no?"

"Pity," he rasped more than said, and chuckled. "Because then you would've known that it wasn't Rangiku that I voted for, you know."

Those wide eyes of hers would be the end of him one day. "Who … who did you vote for, then?"

He smirked down at her, all doubts now completely gone for good. "Let me show you," he whispered and bent down to kiss her again.

Because there was something he liked so much more than all the boobs in the world. And that was Kuchiki Rukia.


End file.
